Sunday 27 August 2017

Trump Nominates New Head of USPTO

Trump has nominated Andrei Iancu to lead the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  Mr. Iancu is managing partner of the very well respected Los Angeles based law firm Irell and Manella.  Irell and Manella is home to one of the leading intellectual property law litigators in the United States: Morgan Chu.  Here are a few observations about this pick: 1) former Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit, Randall Rader, was not chosen; 2) Andrei Iancu is based on the west coast in Los Angeles; 3) His clients are from many different industries: biotechnology companies, medical device companies, medical research institutions, computer hardware and software companies, and internet companies; 4) He's handled at least one trademark matter and appears mostly to handle patent cases; 5) He co-teaches patent law at UCLA Law School; 6) He has written a number of papers of varying length concerning patents, including inter partes review proceedings, software patentability and the Eastern District of Texas; 7) He has co-authored (with two associates) a relatively clear and balanced analysis of the pros and cons of inter-partes review proceedings; 8) He has a background in aerospace engineering; 9) He obtained over $1.6 billion in payments for his client TiVo against AT&T, Motorola, Microsoft and Cisco among others; 10) He represented Ariosa Diagnostics against Sequenom; and 11) His firm represented Trump among others involving copyright claims and The Apprentice television show.  This appears to be a strong pick by the embattled Trump Administration. 

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